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annomandaris t1_j6b417p wrote

Reply to comment by cervicalgrdle in Has a new animal species evolved since mankind’s existence? by coding_ac

The current theory is dogs did not come from wolves, but that they had a common ancestor that split into dogs and wolves, then we domesticated dogs but wolves are and always have been undomesticatable

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cervicalgrdle t1_j6blj3i wrote

Were humans the evolutionary pressure for dogs to branch off from their common ancestor with wolves?

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djublonskopf t1_j6hst2a wrote

Dogs didn't evolve from gray wolves specifically, but they definitely evolved from some kind of wolf or wolves.

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annomandaris t1_j6iq1pz wrote

Yes, I mean as far as Ive read, the wolf/dog ancestor split into 2 wolf types. One was the ancestor of wolves that would become the wolves as we know them today, and the other was a wolf that would eventually be domesticated, and become something like a husky/malamutes, and eventually the rest of dog species.

So while wolves have been bred with dogs at several points in history, it’s not quite accurate to say dogs came from wolves (the ones we know today). They came from other wolves.

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Stephlau94 t1_j6b88vi wrote

Then how come they can still reproduce without any problem? I mean, the genus Panthera can also interbreed to a degree, but the resulting offspring is usually infertile or only partially fertile, the same with mules, but dog-wolf offspring don't (seem to) have this problem.

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annomandaris t1_j6b8f95 wrote

Because when they split they took their reproductive systems with them. So they still have the same number of chromosomes and stuff.

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TheBoggart t1_j6fqzb8 wrote

Hm. I’ve never heard that. Can I get a citation?

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